“Believe me, I cannot escape from our two walks. Like a heavy. beautiful dream; in which I am bewitched. I know that I’d be consumed in that heat which cannot catch fire. On the paths I’d plant oaks which would endure for centuries; and into their trunks I’d carve the words which I shouted into the air. I don’t want them...

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Hector Berlioz died 150 years ago this month. His music was largely ignored for more than 80 years after his death, his maverick style misjudged as eccentric, outlandish and even amateur. We pinpoint the event that led to a true appreciation of his genius.

He is regularly reviled as something of a monster, but as Michael Scott Rohan finds out, a closer look at Richard Wagner – and in particular his music – reveals a more genial side to the German composer.